Laurent Tillie (left)
France’s mentor Laurent Tillie is very clear about the goals he has set:
“Similarly to any other competition we enter, our goal is to make the podium. If you aim high, you also find a better way to stand the hard work you have to go through in the lead-up to the Championship” he says. “If you set a very clear goal, you know what you want to achieve and you won’t get lost as the tournament progresses. Once again: we want to make the semis coming up in ten days in Copenhagen”.
What about the opponents that France will find on their way to a ticket to the final weekend at Parken stadium?
“This European Championship will be a very tough competition for every single participating team. The level is extremely high for with the only exceptions being Brazil, USA, and Cuba, all of the world’s best teams will be playing here. The quality of Volleyball in Europe does not stop improving. You may well see that even those teams who originally did chiefly rely on their physical skills have tremendously progressed also from a technical point of view” Tillie stresses.
After completing the last stage of their preparations, the team flew on Wednesday to Gdansk to play there Slovakia on Friday at 5 pm.
“The last edition of the World League did confirm that we can stand the strongest teams out there as we showed by beating Brazil on their home soil. Our fighting spirit and team work are instrumental to the achievement of our goals. Still we have to forget what we have achieved these past months and focus exclusively on the coming matches”.
What about the opponents that France is set to play in Pool B?
“Slovakia was known for playing a very physical Volleyball, thereby making also many errors. However, they have progressed a lot and finished fifth two years ago in Austria and Czech Republic. They have an excellent setter, Michal Masny, who was voted best setter of the Polish national league. They also have a strong block. Poland is evidently a member of the world’s Volleyball elite. They have got everything you may ask for: experience, technique, and the right tactics. They are also set to play before thousands of fans and the atmosphere will be terrific. As for Turkey, this is the team we do not know much about and on paper the weakest in the group. We only know that they play fast Volleyball” Tillie concludes.
The 16 participating in the VELUX EuroVolley 2013 have been divided into four groups with four teams each. The first-ranked at the end of the prelims will make it directly to the 1/4 finals while the second and third-placed will continue their European adventure via the Playoffs. The fourth-ranked of each group will be eliminated from the competition.
To read more news from this competition click on European Championship 2013 W.
